Common prosperity has been proposed for decades. As early as the early days of the establishment of New China , Chairman Mao raised the issue of common prosperity. When the reform and opening up was started, it was proposed to "let some people and some regions get rich first, and to drive them later, and ultimately achieve common prosperity." Last year, the country put the issue of common prosperity on the important agenda of national development. This time, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China once again raised the issue of common prosperity and regarded it as an important part of the future period.
How should we understand common prosperity? The more consistent view is to summarize it in one sentence, it is not egalitarianism, nor is it robbing the rich to help the poor. There is also a view that common prosperity is to make the "cake" bigger first. So how big is the "cake" to achieve common prosperity? This issue has attracted great attention and extensive discussion among the people across the country. It also caused a lot of controversy.
How do you understand the issue of common prosperity? Let’s first take a look at what Chairman Mao said about common prosperity. Chairman Mao was the first person to propose common prosperity. Chairman Mao pointed out in 1955: "After the land reform, farmers have differentiated. If we don't have new things for farmers, we cannot help farmers improve their productivity, increase their income, and become rich together, those who are poor will not believe us, and they will feel that it is meaningless to follow the Communist Party... In order to consolidate the alliance between workers and peasants, we have to lead the farmers on the socialist path and make the farmers become rich together. The poor must be rich, and all farmers must be rich, and the degree of wealth must be much higher than that of the rich farmers today." Chairman Mao gave a popular explanation of common prosperity. In Chairman Mao’s view, the development of socialist economy is not only the growth of wealth, but also the common prosperity of the broad masses of people. The growth of wealth and common prosperity are complementary.
Today, Wang Hongbin, the old squad leader of Nanjie Village, gave a good explanation for the issue of common prosperity. He said : "Common prosperity cannot be understood as synchronous prosperity, that is, in this area or in a village, there are no wealthy people or poor farmers. Everyone's wealth is similar, I think this is common prosperity." He also vividly said : "The problem of big pot rice is a derogatory term, and I think eating big pot rice is common prosperity. If everyone does not eat one in the same pot, some eat delicacies, and some are still eating ordinary meals, this is not common prosperity."
Judging from the current situation in our country, since the reform and opening up, China's total economic output has now jumped to the second place in the world, second only to the United States, and it is only a matter of time before it surpasses the United States. China is in its most prosperous period since modern times, but the income gap is also the most unequal period in recent decades. We still have nearly 10 million people who are still living under the poverty line. Many working-class people work hard all day long, and 996 can only get basic food and clothing. According to the 2019 Hurun report, there are 658 billionaires in Greater China, 74 more than the United States, 13% higher. "China has 20% of the world's population, but 27% of the world's rich people with a total of 1 billion US dollars."
So, it is not the main problem to expand the "cake" now, the main problem is how to divide the cake well. How to divide the cake well and achieve common prosperity, on this issue, Nanjie Village and Zhoujiazhuang provide us with experience that can be learned from.
Nanjie Village started to work alone in the second year of dividing the fields and organizing farmers again, adhering to Mao Zedong Thought and taking the path of collectivization. Now, it has achieved common prosperity for the whole village and provided villagers with 14 welfare benefits including housing, medical care, and education. The farmers' lives are rich and comfortable.It has become synonymous with collectivism.
Let’s focus on the Zhoujiazhuang People’s Commune. Let’s see how people in Zhoujiazhuang view common prosperity. People in Zhoujiazhuang regard "balanced and prosperous" as a concept of running a people's commune well. They believe that socialism should reflect the principle of distribution according to work, but the difference should not be too large. This requires fairness and justice, adherence to principles, and appropriate flexibility to gradually achieve "common prosperity". They believe that "polarization" is not socialism, but a basic factor that causes social instability. Under the guidance of this concept, Zhoujiazhuang people strive to develop the collective economy and provide considerable welfare guarantees for members. Since 1982, Zhoujiazhuang has implemented 12 welfare undertakings for all members (14 in Nanjie Village), including free water supply, free schooling, electricity bill subsidies, cooperative medical care , living allowances, hardship subsidies, elderly subsidies, disabled subsidies, housing subsidies, free security services, etc.
Since 1982, Zhoujiazhuang has completely renovated the housing of farmers in six natural villages, designed according to high standards, adopted unified planning, unified standards, and private office assistance, allowing all members to live in a two-story building with a unique courtyard, and installed tap water pipes for free.
In terms of education and medical care, Zhoujiazhuang's economic construction has developed simultaneously with culture, education, medical care and health care. A complete teaching institution from kindergarten, primary school to middle school has been built, and their middle school has been rated as a key demonstration school in Hebei Province. At the same time, high-standard medical institutions, medical rooms, and health centers (granted as "standardized hospital" by Hebei Province) have been built, and all medical facilities are available. All members' hospitalization fees are free of charge for commune hospitals, and 90% of the medical expenses of hospitals at or above the county level are reimbursed for cooperative medical expenses. Now, Zhoujiazhuang members have completely relieved the serious medical problems.
solves the three major problems of housing, education and medical care, and the happiness index of members will naturally be greatly improved. In Zhoujiazhuang People's Commune, members don't know what " New Three Mountains " is.
Common prosperity is an essential feature of socialism. Zhoujiazhuang transforms "common prosperity" into "balanced prosperity". In this new socialist countryside, there has never been any "polarization" and there is no "agriculture" or "agriculture and rural issues". There are no rich people or poor households here. This is the true common prosperity.
So, how can we achieve common prosperity? Wang Hongbin, the old squad leader of Nanjie Village, believes that to solve the problem of " Rural Affairs and Rural Affairs" and we must take the path of common prosperity. If you want to continue the road to common prosperity, you must build grassroots organizations well. Only by building grassroots organizations well can the collective economy develop well. This should be the best answer to how to achieve common prosperity.
